dauntless challenges
by GeekySheepy
Summary: tris has to undergo a few tough challenges for her training at dauntless, testing her bravery, brains and patience / or a fic that i wrote ten million years ago that i decided to post
1. Candor or Dauntless

Candor or Dauntless

I woke to the sound of a bell ringing.

My eyes slowly opened and I wiped the sleep out of them.

I looked up to see all the initiates in the same mood as me, which made me feel slightly better.

Four was stood at the entrance of the initiate's dorm, banging a frying pan.

"Initiates, Eric has decided after the poor show that his team gave in capture the flag yesterday, he'll be holding a game of Candor or Dauntless for you to prove your bravery. No one will be leaving because of it, it _will however_ give us a bit more of an insight into what you can bring to Dauntless," he informed us, staring into space as he spoke, his jaw barely moving.

I rolled over, ignoring the nagging feeling that I should be listening to what he was saying, as I was too tired to think. Training had really taken a toll of my energy levels.

After a few more minutes, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Tris?"

I groaned.

"You have to get up, Candor or Dauntless? Remember?"

"Chris?" I grunted.

Christina patted my shoulder, then walked away.

I pulled my body out of bed and got changed. Will had told us (from reading _all_ the faction manuals) that in Candor or Dauntless, when you refuse a dare or a question you had to remove a layer of clothes so I put on as many layers as I could. A bra, a vest, a shirt and a jacket, not too much, incase people caught on.

We arrived first at the training centre, as most of the initiates were still getting ready.

Al and I were still covered in bruises from Stage 1, so he cowered in fear as we stepped into the training room. I tried to brush off my fear, and ignore the smell of blood that rose to my nostrils.

We walked over to Four and he scowled at us.

"Done already?"

"Yep," Christina fired back, venom falling from her mouth with every word.

"Keen, are you?"

We all blushed, which only made Four smirk more.

"Look, where do we need to go?" Christina asked, getting straight to the point, which I was thankful for, as I could feel Four's eyes on me the whole time.

"Wait here. Dauntless born and transfers are going head to head."

We nodded and Al sat down on a chair behind him.

I scanned the room; there was a circle of chairs, spilt in half, one on Four's side, one opposite, which Shauna was stood behind.

"Hey Four!" Shauna called at him as he looked up, "you got your initiates down already?"

"Hell yeah," he replied, leaning against the chair I'd taken a seat in, "that's why they're gonna beat the crap out of _your_ initiates."

The other initiates started to file in, Peter, Molly and Drew leading the pack. Behind them, were the only Dauntless born initiates, reminding me again about Edward and Myra.

The four Dauntless born sat on the chairs opposite us, and Peter, Drew and Molly took a seat next to Will, forcing him to squeeze up to me. I moved an inch closer to Christina.

The door slammed suddenly, and we all jumped.

"Initiates," Eric called as he strutted towards us, "today you will be playing Candor or Dauntless. I'm guessing you all know the rules?"

Silence fell upon us

"Good; I'm not explaining them. Anyway, you will be playing against the other initiates. Dauntless born, verses the transfers. Got it?"

His voice got louder as he got closer to us.

"Al. Start us off," he said, pointing to Al.

"Uhhhh, Lynn, ummm, Candor or Dauntless," he replied, sinking as low as he could into his chair, so unprepared.

Lynn rose to the challenge.

"Dauntless," she replied confidently.

Eric stared at Al expectantly. I realised that this game wasn't about showing how much you could be pushed, but also about how much _you_ could push _others_. It made me sick.

"I, uhhh, dare you to… to get on the floor, and, and... lick… it."

He looked around at everyone nervously, hoping to get an eager reaction, only to find everyone staring at him blankly. It _was_ a pretty boring dare.

Eric sighed.

"That one has been used countless times. Lynn," he turned to face her, "you're off the hook."

He turned back round, "Al, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Uhhhh, what?" he stuttered in reply.

"Candor. Or Dauntless. Simple question," he spat, a grim, but joyful look on his face, as if he _did_ enjoy torturing his initiates.

"Candor."

The Dauntless borns sniggered.

"Tell us then Al," Eric's eyes scanned the room, "who do you have a _crush_ on?" he asked, emphasising the word 'crush', making it sound as pathetic as he could.

Al looked around the room and my heart plummeted to the ground when his eyes stopped on me.

"Tris," he mumbled.

"What was that?" Eric replied mischievously, his mouth twisting into a sick grin.

"Tris," he said, louder than last time, making sure _everyone_ could hear. I groaned inwardly.

Four's hands tightened on the back of my chair, as my face went a deep shade of red. I looked down at the floor, trying to find anything to look at, except for Al's face.

"The _Stiff_? Really? That's the best you can do?" Peter hollered at him.

"Shut up," Al muttered back.

"Okay," Four called from behind me, "get on with it. Al, ask someone."

"Marlene, Candor or Dauntless?" Al asked her, trying to regain his dignity, but failing.

Marlene glanced at her friends.

"Dauntless," she replied, flicking her long blonde hair and passing Four a flirtatious smile.

Al noticed this and adjusted his attitude, leaning forward in his chair as Four was still doing on mine.

"I dare you… to take off your underwear," he paused, "and give it to Peter."

He looked round, everyone bored still.

"It'll do," Eric shrugged, seemingly impressed.

Marlene looked at her friends in confusion, who just looked back at her with amused faces.

"Yeah. I guess.." she said rolling her eyes.

She reached up her trouser leg, and a few seconds later, Peter had black underwear in his lap.

"Do I ask someone now?"

"Just go," Eric sneered.

"Molly," she replied immediately, "Candor or Dauntless?"

"Candor," Molly smirked.

Everyone waited as Uriah whispered in Marlene's ear.

She nodded, "Okay, Molly. What is your _biggest_ fear?"

Eric's head immediately shot to Four's, and he grinned.

"Uhhhh... no, no," she shook her head and took off her jacket, revealing a black top, tight against her chest.

Four pulled away from my chair, relieving it of the pressure.

"Tris, Cand-" Molly started.

"Hey, no. Transfers against borns. Those are the rules," Eric interrupted.

"Why not?" Peter dared to ask.

Eric's nostrils flared and I was scared for Peter, as much as I hated him. _No one_ was allowed to talk back to Eric. _No one_.

Eric glared at Peter, who sat higher in his chair.

"Surely it would make it more interesting? All v all?" Peter emphasised, raising his arms to get the agreement of the initiates.

The Dauntless borns murmured in agreement, and so did most of the transfers.

Al and I remained silent, we knew we would be picked on. No one liked us; they all wanted me to give in, why wouldn't they? I was the perfect target. The Stiff. The _weak_ Stiff. They were all waiting for me to give up, even Christina. She'd never admit it though. Never. Even with her Candor background.

"It _would_ be more interesting," Shauna chipped in.

"Fine. Fine, okay. Change of rules. All v all, carry on," Eric gave in, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Tris," Molly turned to me, grinning, "Candor or Dauntless?"

"Dauntless," I replied, trying to sound confident.

Her grin grew wider.

"I dare you, to… to kiss Four."

I glanced at Four.

No.

No way was I going to _kiss him_.

He smirked at me, I guess this was common: someone to be dared to kiss him. I wasn't surprised, he had the looks, he obviously had those, and I wasn't surprised that he had all the initiates running round after him.

Well. Not me. I wasn't falling for his… charm? Could you call it charm?

His eyes locked into mine and he grunted.

"Sure," he said.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"I don't want you to be seen as a coward because of me," he then whispered, only for me to hear.

He placed his hand on my chin, and slammed his lips against mine.

Waves of shock, excitement and confusion, ran through my head, before realising that I should be kissing him back.

I pulled away as quick as I could, and he seemed disappointed.

I returned to the game, relaxing in my chair.

"Stiff, pay attention."

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Eric's cruel voice, ringing through my ear.

"You. Need. To. Pick someone," Peter sneered.

"Shut up Candor. My job," Eric called at him, "proceed."

I scanned the room. I ran through my options. I could go for Molly again, make her strip even more? But she would only go for _me_ afterwards… One of the Dauntless borns? Uriah hadn't been yet.

"Uriah. Candor or Dauntless?"I asked him, noticing that he was a bit too comfortable in his seat.

"Dauntless," he answered, leaning forward and lacing his fingers together.

"I dare you…" I paused and thought about what I could do.

Should I be mean?

"Sexual or romantic things are best. Trust me," Four whispered in my ear.

I trusted him.

"I dare you to kiss every girl in the room."

Uriah shook his head and looked at Marlene, who glared daggers at him.

Uriah lifted his shirt off his head, revealing his bare chest.

It was suspicious, he was Dauntless born, he should have known that he'd've had to strip, shouldn't he have put more layers on?

"Christina," he said.

She nodded.

"Christina, Candor or Dauntless?"

"Umm, Dau- Candor. Candor," she replied, stumbling over her words.

"Christina, I would like to know what your aptitude test result was."

"I'm not allowed to say that."

She glanced around the room at the instructors. Nobody said anything.

"Am I?"

She kept looking, expecting someone to say something.

Shauna sighed, "No I guess n-"

"No, no. It's her decision. Let her decide," Eric interrupted.

Christina reluctantly lifted her crop-top over her head, leaving her in only her bra.

Everyone stared, _especially_ Will, until she started crossing her arms.

"Peter. Candor or Dauntless?"

Peter furrowed his eyebrows.

"Dauntless, obviously. Unlike _you_ , _I_ belong here."

"Okay. Kiss…" she grinned at me, "Eric."

Everyone went silent and looked at Eric, who didn't seem too amused.

"No. No way," Peter said eventually.

He slowly lifted off his shirt, he had a vest on underneath thankfully, but even that was tight fitting.

"I though you 'belonged here'?" I taunted.

"Shut up."

Peter turned to face in my direction.

"Four," Peter began, looking at Four, still stood behind me, " Candor or Dauntless?"

"Is he allowed to do that?" Four asked Eric, who just shrugged.

Four sighed.

"Daun-"

"No. Four will choose Candor," Eric interrupted, staring at Four intensely.

"You can't do that. It's _his_ choice," I said, as loud as I could, hoping to stick up for Four, who clearly didn't want to answer a question.

There seemed to be something going on between Four and Eric.

Peter jumped at the chance, immediately replying: "Your real name, what is it?"

You could see the colour drain from Four's face and he looked down at his shirt, before looking back up.

"Uhhh, J… ohn. John. My name is John," Four paused, "That doesn't mean you can call me that though. Four. Call me Four. I earned this name, and I want you to use it."

Eric eyed him suspiciously, but then moved on to pick on one of the Dauntless borns.

"Geoffrey. You seem pretty comfortable in you chair there, consider yourself chosen."

A boy I didn't recognise shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

He flicked his long-sandy hair off his face.

"Geoffrey, Candor or Dauntless?" Four asked him.

"Dauntless," Geoffrey replied confidently.

"Shave your hair off. All of it."

His eyes went wide, and his hands moved instinctively to his locks.

"Ummm," Geoffrey looked nervously around the room, "sure. No one's accepted anything recently."

Lynn was told to get the shaver and returned seconds later with one.

She passed it to Uriah, who gave it a few tester runs, then applied it to Geoffrey's head.

Seconds later, Geoffrey, and his chair, was covered in blond curls.

"Lynn. Stand up. Geoffrey, you too," Eric called at them, pointing at them both.

They stood up, and everyone burst out laughing.

They looked the same. Almost _exactly_.

Lynn blushed and laughed too, whereas Geoffrey had tears dribbling down his cheeks.

Geoffrey ran out of the room, crying out: "I _never_ should have said yes to that _stupid_ dare!"

"Okay. That's enough for today," Eric boomed, "you get the rest of the day off."

We all stayed silent where we were.

"Shoo!"

We all scrambled to flee the room.


	2. The Next Challenge

The Next Challenge

"Initiates!" Four called, stood on the ledge hanging over the dining area, his voice echoing through it.

"This evening, Eric would like to give you all _another_ challenge, since you did so well in your last," he said, raising his eyebrows.

Christina and I looked at each other exasperatedly.

"Once agin, no one'll leave. Just give us some insight. He expects all of you to meet him at the train at five. Come prepared."

"What're we doing?" Christina hollered at him.

"Not my place to tell you," Four hollered back.

"How're we supposed to know how to prepare then?" I shouted, looking Four right in the eyes, who returned me a sympathetic look.

"Yeah, that's so bloody stupid!" Peter called.

Four ignored his comment, and left the ledge, retreating down the stairs. He returned moments later, coming out of a door, on the side of the room.

He took a seat on our table, next to Will.

"I'll give you a clue," he murmured, pinching Al's muffin, "wrap," he took a bite out of it, "up warm," he said, with his mouthful spilling all over us.

He stood up and strutted away, still with Al's muffin.

"My muffin," Al muttered sulkily.

"Forget the muffin! _We've_ got a _clue_ ," Christina loud-whispered.

"And?" Will questioned.

"That means _we've_ got a _head start_!" she cried, a bit too loud.

"What's that Candor?" Peter shouted at us.

He stood up, Molly and Drew behind him.

"Chris!" I muttered, elbowing Christina in the arm.

Peter and his gang wandered over to us, Peter grabbing Christina by the neck of her shirt.

He held her face close to his, spitting in it as he spoke: "Head start? Got some kind of clue, huh? I knew Four liked you," he spat in her face, "What is it?"

Christina shook her head, and he slumped her down, then moved onto me.

"Stiff," he folded his arms across his chest, "what do you know?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied, looking at my plate as he crept up behind me.

Peter grabbed my hair, which was tied back, and yanked my ponytail, bring my head back so it was facing the ceiling. Peter put his face over mine.

"Tell me what you know Stiff."

"Yeah, tell him what you know," a quiet voice growled.

Peter looked back, "Shut up Drew."

"Look Stiff, tell me what you know, otherwise I'm gonna-"

"Peter, there's no point," Molly interrupted, pulling Peter away from me, "they obviously just got a tip because Four feels sorry for them."

I looked back and raised my eyebrows at her, she raised hers back.

"Come on Petey," Molly purred, "we can go and prepare for the challenge."

Peter looked at Molly and turned away from us.

"Fine. But I'm gonna beat you Stiff, one way or another."

They strutted away and I turned to my friends.

"Do you think they're right?" I asked quietly.

"What?"

"Will. You know what I mean. We only got the tip because Four feels sorry for us. You know it."

Will looked down at his plate, then at his watch.

"Look, we have three and a half hours, lets go _do_ something! You never know, this could be our last day here."

"No, Four said no initiates were gong to get cut, can we just sulk in out dorm?" Christina added.

Al stood, "Sounds good to me."

He dumped our plates in the bin and we all followed him back to the dorm, Christina and Will trailing behind Al and I.

We stepped into the dorm, closing the dorm door carefully.

"Well, that was awkward," Christina said as she slumped on her bed. Mine, Al's and hers were next to each other, so we sat on our own, Will joined Christina on hers.

Will brought out his book that he'd brought over from his bed. It was the Dauntless faction manual.

He flicked through the pages and stopped on one.

"What're you doing?" Al asked him.

"I… am… trying to find… the game… we'll… be playing," he trailed his finger down a page titled 'Dauntless Recreation'.

"Nothing, they just have Capture The Flag and Candor or Dauntless as _games_."

"Maybe it's not a game," I inputed, "maybe it's like a test?"

Will nodded and kept flicking through the pages.

"You're such an Erudite sometimes Will, you know that right?" Christina mocked.

"Oh, that's probably because I _grew up there_!?" Will fired back.

"It's quite sad sometimes, really," she joked, laughing to herself.

He threw the book on the floor, and mumbled: "Fine. I won't try to give us _even more_ of a head start if it makes me less Dauntless. I'm sorry."

"No, Will! I was just kidding. Please," Christina pleaded, poking him in the belly.

"Only if you promise to not mock me."

"Fine, I promise."

Christina held out her pinky and hooked it in Will's.

We sat for hours. Al and I on our beds, doing nothing except catching up on as much sleep as we could, Will and Christina stayed up though, which surprised me, as I _knew_ Christina _never_ got enough sleep.

Will found nothing in the book, he basically read it all, but nothing linked with Four's message specifically, except this drinking game that took place outside, at midnight.

Eventually all the other initiates filed in, Peter and Molly came out of the bathroom, and we had to get ready.

I found the warmest clothes I had, three layers on my top half, a shirt and two jackets, and two pairs of socks and leggings. I hoped I would be warm enough.

I got Christina to do a bun on the back of my head (my hair was getting to long to be put into a ponytail and be out the way), but all it did was remind me of home.

The boys had gone earlier, as they didn't want to wait around for us to get changed.

We set off to the train station with Uriah and Lynn, who equally had no clue what we were doing.

"Do you know what were doing today then?" Lynn asked as we arrived at the station.

Christina nodded, but was distracted. She was staring at Will, who was stood next to Shauna, talking to her.

"Hey boys," Christina laughed in an unfamiliar way as we approached them, smiling too much.

"Hey, you took a while," Will replied.

"Ummm, well, it's not easy to look this good is it Tris?"

"No, it's not…"

They were acting strange. Had something happen? Did they argue?

"Initiates!" Shauna yelled, "Eric, Lauren and Four are in the train already, they left earlier, it's your turn to get on."

We all got in line, as we heard the train chugging forward. My heart started to beat faster, as it always did when we had to jump.

It got closer and closer, Christina took my sweaty hand in hers, and we jumped together, like we always did.

When we were all safely in the cart, I poked my head out of the sliding door, and saw Four's head poking out too.

We caught each other's eye and he smirked, then returned into his cart.

"Ugh, Chris. How long do you think we'll be in here?" I asked.

"Dunno, not too long hopefully, I'm hungry!" she replied, sticking her head out the cart door and hollering: "How long are wE GONNA BE IN HERE?!"

A Marlene's small voice yelled back: "Eric said at least 45 minutes, sorry."

Christina sighed and sat back down against the wall with me.

I drifted off to sleep a few minutes later.


	3. Survive The Night

Survive the Night

"Tris?"

"Tris, wake up. We're here."

I groaned and opened my weary eyes. Leaning over me was Four and Christina. Christina's hand was on my shoulder, shaking me.

"Sorry, I'll get up…" I stumbled over my words in an attempt to excuse my nap.

"It's okay, I know how much training can drain your energy, but you're gonna need all of it for this next task, okay?" Four patted my shoulder and wandered away, over to Eric and the rest of the initiates.

As Christina and I jumped down from the stationary train, I asked her: 'Why'd you get Four?"

"I didn't! I didn't want to wake you up, and _he_ was wondering where we were. So _he_ came in _himself_ , thank you very much. I wouldn't do that, I know how you feel about him."

I opened my mouth to protest, but was interrupted by Eric.

"Nice of you to join us ladies, I can get started now."

I looked around at our surroundings. I expected we were at Amity somewhere, as all around us were trees. All sizes and shapes. There were bushes and weeds and grass as damp as they could be. I could smell the amount of animal dropping there was, so I guessed that there was some kind of animal inhabitants there. I couldn't see much past the walls of trees as the darkness overwhelmed my vision.

"So," Eric continued, "today you will be _surviving the night_."

"What?" Drew's scratchy voice called out.

"I'm about to tell you."

Drew went silent.

"Now, 'Survive the Night' is a new game that I'm introducing now. Yes?"

We all murmured a quiet yes.

"I wil-"

Shauna coughed.

" _We_ will be putting you into teams, and you will need to survive until morning. Hope you've all eaten!"

Everyone went silent and you could hear the stomachs of every initiate rumble.

"You will be provided will one bag, each containing different items, one will have purification tablets and a bottle, a _clean_ one; one will have bread, cream cheese and a packet of biscuits. The last one will have a torch and night vision goggles.

"You will get to choose which you would like, however if more than one team wishes to have a certain bag, you will have to use the skills we have taught you in training."

Eric looked at Four and Shauna with a big grin on his face.

"Anything else?"

"Sleeping bags," Four grumbled.

"Ahh! Yes, sleeping bags. You will be provided with sleeping bags also, we don't want you get _bitten_ in your _sleep_ do we?" he paused, "However, you _will_ have to find them to use them. And there are only ten bags and eleven of you.

"Shall we put them into their teams?"

Shauna nodded and brought out a list from her pocket. She shone a torch on it and began reading.

"You will have a leader watching over you and kind of helping you, to assess your progress. In Lauren's eye will be Drew, Molly, Al and Lynn. In mine is Uriah, Will and Geoffrey, and in Four's is Christina, Peter, Marlene and Tris. Eric, is going to be staying here and watching you through a drone, to track your progress himself, as well, okay?"

We all nodded wearily and got together with our groups.

I was so thankful to have Christina with me, and to have Four watching over us, if anyone, _he_ would make sure we were okay.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Peter trying to protest with Eric about being in our team, and to be honest, I wouldn't mind him being off it too, but seeing Eric dismiss every word he said, made me smirk.

"I guess I'm stuck with you," Peter sulked.

"What's so bad about that?" Christina argued.

"It's pretty obvious, Candor."

" _You're_ from Candor too, that doesn't make any sense!"

"Guys," I interrupted their argument, "we need to choose one of the packs."

I could see Four's eye on us, and felt the need to take charge.

"The tablets," Marlene suggested, "and the bottle. Water's the most necessary. We _need_ water."

Four nodded.

"She's right. You can find food _somewhere_ , but you can't drink without purifying the water you're gonna drink. How'd you know know that?"

Marlene shrugged, "Kinda obvious."

"Lets go get it then," Christina said excitedly.

I looked over to Eric, who was holding the bags. Uriah's team was on the move to him, I caught Will's eye and immediately realised that he'd figure out about the water too.

"They're getting the water!"

Marlene gave me a look of terror, so Peter shot off immediately and stood in front of Eric and the bags.

"You'll have to get through me," he said, looking at me in the eyes, trying to catch my attention. He nodded backwards, signalling for me to get the bag.

I snuck over to him, my feet squelching in the wet grass.

Peter and Uriah got into a fist on fist fight, while Will and Geoffrey just watched and gave me the perfect opportunity to get the bag.

Peter hit Uriah in the jaw, moving the fight away from the bags, so Will and Geoffrey would stop facing them, and I could get in without being seen.

I crept over to Eric, taking the smallest bag from his hand, the one which he held up when showing us the bag with the purification tablets in.

He held onto it, making it significantly harder for me to take, as I was trying to be as quiet as I could. I snatched it off him, by digging my long nails into his hand, causing him to drop the bags on the floor, I hoped the crackers and biscuits would break.

I ran back to my team, where Four, Christina and Marlene were watching the fight intently. Uriah was good, but not as good as Peter.

He looked over to me and saw I had the bag, then kicked Uriah in the shins and ran back to us.

"Good plan eh, Stiff?" Peter said.

"Yeah, it, it was," Four replied for me.

I nodded reluctantly and loosened the strings of the silky, brown bag.

Inside was a small, metal flask and a white pot. I gave Christina the pot and let her shake it. It rattled, a good sign of purification tablets.

I rummaged my hand inside the bag for anything else, and my finger was cut on a small blade.

I drew my finger out of the bag and sucked on it, hoping to remove the blood.

"You ok?" Four asked me.

I nodded, then brought the knife out the bag.

"We also have a… knife. And…" I peeked inside the bag again, "a teeny weeny torch."

I brought out a torch, it really was tiny, that when I switched it on, only shone a tiny amount of light.

"Better than nothing," Marlene encouraged.

"Yeah… yeah."

Peter was shivering, hoping to warm himself up, as he didn't have much on.

I took my jacket off and passed it to him.

"For distracting Uriah," I muttered.

Peter took it and gave me a small, guilty smile.

"No, Peter can wear this," Four took off his jacket and passed it to Peter, who handed me mine back.

Four's jacket fitted Peter better than mine, and Marlene seemed to come with multiple layers too, so she needed no help; the team was warm and ready to go.

We moved off into the forest, hoping to find the sleeping bags.

"Gimme the torch Stiff," Peter said as he tried to snatch the torch out of my hand.

Christina was carrying the bag, with everything in it, and Peter obviously wanted to feel like he was doing _something_.

Four and I were leading the pack at the front, as I was holding the torch.

The forest at night freaked me out a bit, the noise and rustling of the leaves, the twigs that snapped under my feet with every step.

Peter took over, holding the torch in the front, arguing with Christina, who was walking with him.

I managed to catch snippets of their conversation, but wasn't paying much attention.

Marlene was very scared. She kept gripping my arm anytime she heard anything, so she stayed next to me for the whole journey.

Four took up the rear, making sure no other group was near us, ready to pounce and steal our things.

We walked for what felt like hours, but in reality was only about twenty minutes, before we stumbled across something blue in the trees.

"Guys!" Peter whispered and pointed to the tree tops.

In the trees were a bundle of blue sleeping bags, each had a blanket stuffed in them.

There was seven there, obviously Will's group had been and gone, so we each took one, and left the remaining three.

I felt kind of bad for Al and Lynn, as one of their group was going to have to join the another in a sleeping bag.

"Four, do you need one?" I asked.

"No, I'll be fine. I've got one thanks," he replied confidently.

I didn't question it, but I saw no sleeping bag on him, or any bag of any kind. He knew what he was doing though, so I let it slide.

A half hour of silent wandering later, we came across a two, huge oak trees. One was giant, and easy to climb, the other smaller, but they both had a large branch that we could easily connect to make a platform to sleep on.

We decided to split up, Peter would go with Marlene to get water and food (as we were all very hungry), Christina and Four would get big branches for the platform, and I would stay behind to 'guard' our trees. Christina was very happy to move away from Peter, so she set off as soon as she could. She and Four went in different directions, to cover more ground, but Marlene and Peter decided to stay together.

"Hey Stiff, you say there. Don't want you messing this up for us," Peter had said to me before he left, and I felt determined to prove him wrong, but soon after, my mind started to wander.

A few minutes after everyone left, I heard a growling noise, that grasped my attention.

I looked around, finding a small snout poking out of the leaves, rustling them.

I guessed that was the culprit.

The animal crept out, revealing itself, and its pack of snarling wolves.

There were quite a few, they were big, grey, and angry. Most looked like they hadn't eaten in a years.

They paced over to me, their soft paws moving gracefully against the slippery grass. They kept coming closer, so had to move backwards, eventually bumping against a tree, therefore cornering me.

I took as many deep breaths as I could, one's face inches way from mine, drool dribbling down its snout, onto my chin.

It backed away, looking around at its friends, and I thought this was a good time to escape. I started to crawl, but one saw, it pounced forward, making me slip on the mud, and fall flat on my face.

I pushed myself up and screamed, I didn't care how loud I was, I just wanted the beasts to get away from me.

One pounced, and I scrambled to the left, so it missed me by inches, clawing its teeth into wood.

Panic took over my brain and all the knowledge of wolves from school washed away, leaving me screaming and helpless.

More crept over and opened their mouths, revealing their pointy teeth, ready to sink into my skin. They raised their paws to the sky, baring their sharp claws, ready to pounce.

Then Four came bounding out of the bushes, roaring like a lion, so loud it almost burst my eardrums. He held his arms up, waving them around like he was crazy, scaring them away.

They all whimpered and cowered, fleeing the sight… but one.

It stood tall and strong, it was clearly the leader of the pack.

Four picked up one of the branches he had collected, and held it up, like a knife. He ripped off a flake of wood, sharpening the end of the branch, and I realised what he was doing.

The wolf jumped at him, scratching Four's face, only to have his back impaled with the piece of wood.

I gasped as the wolf fell limp on the end of the branch.

Four ran over to me, leaning down and holding me in his arms.

"You okay?"

I nodded wearily, my heart slowing down to a normal pace.

"Your face…" I said, wiping the blood of his cut with my sleeve.

Peter and Marlene burst through a tangle of leaves, their faces bright red.

"What…" Peter took a deep breath, "happened?" he wheezed.

He leaned his hands on his knees, breathing slowly.

"Wolves," I replied, sitting up, and leaning back against the tree.

"They were attacking her," Four explained, wiping the drool off of my face.

"Tris!" Christina called, running in from my left. She dropped her pile of branches and she knelt down beside me, wrapping her arms around me.

I breathed in her scent, and relaxed into her body.

Christina moved away and pulled a face.

"Your hair's ruined! _And_ you have mud all over your face," she whined and wiped it off with a tissue she had in her pocket.

"Oh, you poor thing," Marlene cried, wrapping her arms round Peter's neck and weeping into his shoulder, "I'm so scared now… what if more come -when we're asleep! We'll be unprepared and-"

"It's okay," Four interrupted, "we'll be fine."

He stood up and picked up Christina's pile of branches.

"We need to learn from Tris' experience."

He picked up his pile in his other arm.

"What're we supposed to learn from _that_?" Peter asked sarcastically.

Four dropped the branches in a pile at my feet.

"Not to panic," I replied.

"Yes, exactly. They'll think you're prey," Four agreed, "try to make yourself as big and scary as possible. They'll believe that they should be afraid of you."

Marlene wiped her eyes and realised who's shoulder she was crying on.

"Sorry," she muttered.

Peter shook his head, and took Marlene's hand in his.

"We managed to get some water, but no sign of food," he sighed.

Four held up the stick with the dead wolf on the end.

"I'm sure it'll taste just like chicken."

We got to work, all hands on deck when it came to building the treehouse platform.

Four said he picked up some long grass, which he'd twisted together, to use as string, just in case, so we (mainly Christina, who's surprisingly good with knots) used that to tie the branches together, making sure they were tight and steady.

After a while, we managed to get a steady platform that we moved our sleeping bags up to. It creaked a bit when Four got on as well as everyone else, but it managed to hold the weight.

"Eight o'clock," Marlene informed us.

"Can we get some food on?" Christina groaned.

Four nodded.

"Yeah… have we... yes we've got some branches left over. Christina, you can help

Marlene with the fire. Tris, you have the responsibility of skinning the wolf, okay? I'll help."

He looked at Peter.

"Peter, you can set up the platform," Four decided eventually, "so you don't _mess_ anything up."

Four raised his eyebrows at him.

Marlene started climbing down the tree, putting her thin legs round it, to support her weight.

Christina, Four and I followed, leaving Peter on the platform, to tidy it up.

I was last down the tree, and when I got down there, Four had taken the stick out the wolf, and placed it on its back.

"It'll taste just like chicken. I promise," he reassured me, when he saw my face of disgust.

He grinned and handed me the knife.

"Ever skinned an animal before?"

I shook my head and winced at the thought of it.

"Ok," he nodded, "first step. Genitals."

" _What_?!"

"Remove them."

I nodded nervously and picked up the knife in my shaky hand. I slid it under the skin of the wolf in between its legs. It made a wide cut, a deep slit, perfect size for a-

"Do I have to put my _hand_ in?"

Four nodded grimly.

I sighed and started to inch my hand towards the cut.

"Are you just making me do this because you don't want to?"

Four chuckled, "Just get on with it!"

About half an hour later, we had a fully skinned wolf.

We cut off the main pieces of meat that were edible, and stuck the branch back through them.

Four went off to pick some berries, while Christina and I cooked the meat, and Marlene went to lie down in her sleeping bag.

"So…" Christina began, while twisting the meat over the fire that she and Marlene started, "how's… Four?"

She winked at me and I looked at her in shock.

"What?! No way! No way. Sorry."

"Come on," she nudged me, "you gotta admit, he does have the looks."

"Yes, he does," I nudged her back, "but he's an annoying, bullying…" I looked around, trying to find the best insult, "toadstool. An annoying toadstool. That's what he is."

"Okay…" Christina trailed off, not completely finished with the subject.

"Do you think we could eat some now?" she asked.

"No!" I cried and smacked her on the hand.

She held her hands up.

"I'm sorry! I'm just hungry," she whined.

I left her in charge of the cooking and ventured off to find Four, as he had been gone longer than he was supposed to.

"Four!" I called through the trees, "Four?"

I looked down and shone the torch at what seemed to be a trail of footsteps.

The footprints were big, and seemed to go on forever, deepening every now and then by a bush, confirming that they were Four's.

I followed them for a while, still yelling Four's name, until I got a reply.

"Tris?" his gruff voice groaned back, seemingly in pain.

"It's me," I replied as I battled my way through the bushes and thorns.

Eventually, I came to a small clearing, and Four was on the floor, scratches all over his chest.

I knelt down at his side, running my hand down his cuts, making him groan in agony.

"What happened?" I asked with concern.

"The… wolves… came back."

"Okay," deep breath, "okay," I said trying to calm myself down more than anyone.

I lifted off his shirt, which was ripped from the wolves, and glanced down at the cuts, which were deeper than I thought.

"I need… my T-shirt…" Four groaned, lying flat so I couldn't see his back.

"Why?"

"My tattoos… on my back…"

I nodded, I knew some Dauntless members got tattoos that broke the rules. If Four had one, that was found seen… he'd be thrown into the chasm. I wondered why he trusted me to know about them.

"Ok," I nodded, "after I've sorted you cuts out."

I'd brought some of the water, that I'd brought to drink on the way here, and still had a dribble left. I poured the contents of the bottle over the cuts, making Four groan and cough in pain. I hoped it would clean them as much as possible, but it didn't seem to help; the cuts kept bleeding and bleeding.

"I don't know what to do, I've never… I've never _been_ in a situation where I'd _need_ to."

I gave up.

"Pressure," he groaned.

I nodded, taking my shirt off.

I left my jackets at 'base', as I was too warm by the fire, not even thinking about getting cold as I ventured out to look for Four.

I lifted my shirt over my head, leaving me just in my bra, feeling so exposed in the eery forest. I folded my shirt up and pressed it down on the cuts, hoping to put pressure on them.

We sat for a while like that, before Four saying: "We'd better get back."

I nodded and took my shirt off his chest, which was soaked with blood, but seemed to have stopped the bleeding.

I took Four's shirt and cut of the front of the T-shirt with my knife, giving the cuts some air and leaving the back together, to hide his tattoos.

"Thanks Tris," Four said as we made our way back to 'base'.

"Don't mention it," I replied, shaking my head, "but how did the wolves find you? Were they the same ones?"

"I think so."

"Where've you two been?" Peter asked, munching on a piece of meat, but trailed off when he saw Four's cuts, and my soaked, bloody T-shirt.

They were all sat round the campfire, eating the wolf, which was almost gone.

"The wolves again," I explained.

Four sat down on the grass next to them, taking a piece of wolf out of Peter's hand, and eating it greedily.

"You can have my T-shirt if you want it?" Marlene said quietly.

"No thanks, I've got two jackets down here," I picked up the jackets and put them on, then took a piece of wolf that Christina handed me happily.

It was okay, a bit chewy, but I didn't care as my hunger was taking over.

We sat in silence, greedily eating as many pieces of meat as we could. When all the food was gone, including some squashed berries that Four had kept in his pockets, we retreated to the wooden platform.

We all set up our beds, except for Four.

Four cursed under his breath.

"What is it?" Christina asked.

"My _stuff_ , it's back in the forest," he replied.

"What?"

"Where the wolves attacked me. It had all my knives _and_ my _sleeping bag_."

"You'll have to share then," Marlene suggested, "probably with Peter, 'cuz he's the only boy."

"No," Christina interrupted, "Tris would be better."

I glared at her.

"What? You _are_ the smallest, sleeping bags aren't big, are they?"

Four looked at me with desperate eyes.

Silence rang through the us, you could only hear the gentle rustling of leaves in the distance,

"Fine," I gave in.

I moved over, allowing Four into my sleeping bag.

It was quite a tight fit, so we were squashed up together.

Four wriggled around a but, and he whispered in my ear: "Thanks for… well, everything."

"Like I said. No. Problem," I replied, as sternly as I could, facing away from him.

"Seriously."

I nodded, "You're welcome."


	4. We Find Our Way Back

We Find Our Way Back

The forest looked different in the morning.

As I sat up in the sleeping bag (Four still asleep), I looked around at the forest in the light, peacefulness of the wildlife.

The trees that surrounded us blocked out most of the sun, their leaves' translucency letting the sun shine softly through them, flashes of light piercing my eyes, as the wind rustled them in the sky. I could hear nothing except the soft singing of the birds, calling out into the wild.

The atmosphere felt so genuinely warmer, even though the temperature was just as cold as the evening before.

"Tris?"

I looked up to see Marlene creeping over to me.

"Hey," I replied as she took a seat next to my sleeping bag.

"Look, I know I don't know you very well, but I wanted to ask you something. And Christina's kinda scary, but I want a girl to talk to."

"Okay.."

"It's about Peter."

"What about him?"

"Is… I was just, just wondering, is he dating anyone?"

My heart stopped. _What_? Did _she_ like _Peter_?

 _Peter_?

"Ummm, I don't know, I guess."

"Who?" she replied immediately.

"I… I think Molly and him are-"

"Molly," she spat.

She went to move away, but I pulled her back down.

"Marlene…"

She back looked at me, her cheeks flushed.

"Do you like him?"

She blushed and looked at her feet.

"What do you mean?"

I raised my eyebrows and nudged her arm.

"Maybe…" she replied quietly.

I was shocked, how could anyone as sweet as Marlene, love anyone as _cruel_ as Peter?

"Why?" I asked quietly.

"He saved me…"

"When?"

"When we went to get the water, we found a little pond. I took my shoes off, and everything, so they wouldn't get wet, and I wadded in, and then a snake bit my leg."

She pulled up her jeans to reveal a bite in her ankle.

"He jumped down immediately and sucked the venom out… it was so romantic. You know how poisonous the snakes are around here."

I looked at her strangely.

"He's like my prince, I fell in love with him at first sight," she sighed.

"Yeah… look Marlene, I don't mean to burst your bubble or anything, but Peter and Molly were, well, you know what I mean… and they… I think they're together…" I said straightforwardly.

"Yes, but yesterday… when I was scared, he held my hand and-"

"Marlene."

"Yes? she replied innocently.

"I don't think you and him is going to work. He might've saved you, but he's a _bad_ guy, you're _not_. He's cruel and you're _not_. He'll take you to a bad place. I'm sorry."

"I don't care... just tell me: do you think I have a chance with him?"

I thought for a moment.

"That's not what matters. You aren't good for each other. No; he's not good for _you_. Sorry Marlene."

She nodded and retreated to her bag.. I felt bad, but knew I was right.

A few minutes passed and everyone began to wake up.

We got our stuff together and left 'the base'.

Marlene walked as far away from Peter as she could, next to Christina and I.

We didn't really know where we were going, just wandered aimlessly through the forest.

"Hey Peter," I called.

"Stiff."

I ran to catch up with him.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"I suppose."

"Are you and Molly together?"

He looked at me with a blank face, then returned to looking ahead.

"No."

"Are you sur-"

"Yes."

I nodded, and began to speak, but Peter cut me off.

"Why? You gottta crush on me Stiff?"

"No, but maybe someone else does…" I muttered.

"What?"

I nodded backwards.

"Christina?" he asked, confused.

"No! Marlene. She _really_ likes you, like, _a lot_."

He rolled his eyes.

"Just… talk to her, okay?"

I walked back to the girls, and Marlene stared ahead blankly.

—

"Four's team! Lovely to see you," Eric cried as we reached the grass area around the train, "Tris, Four, have a good nights sleep?"

I blushed as Christina and I walked over to Will.

"Hey," Will said as we approached him, "how was your night?"

"It was okay. Not to bad," Christina replied, bringing him into an exhausted hug.

"Yours?" I asked.

"Just like you Tris, always caring about others," I heard Four say as he walked up to us, "may I talk with you?"

I looked at my friends, rolled my eyes, then walked away with him.

"Look, I just wanted to say, that you did well in there. _Really_ well," he said, placing his hands on my shoulders.

"And Eric was lying, he has done that with other initiates, but I've never had an initiate who handles the situations they were put in as well as you. _Never_."

"You've only had two sets of initiates including us. Not a great compliment."

He smiled, "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, I do. Thanks Four."

He nodded, not moving, I then gave him an awkward smile and he walked over to Shauna, who was gloating about how good her team was.

I wandered back to Christina and Will.

"What was that about?" Will asked.

"Oh, nothing," I replied.

Al's team arrived back shortly, with a very flustered Molly and Drew, who looked like they'd been dragged through a bush -which they probably had.

We all shared our stories about our time in the forest, and by the seems of it, Al had the worst time, stuck with Lynn, Drew _and_ Molly.

I looked around to find Marlene and saw her in the corner, chatting with Peter.

Molly was stood near them, obviously distraught, and as much as I hated Peter, I was kind of happy for them.

After we all had our reunions, Eric herded back into the train, we managed to get stuck in a cart with Peter and Marlene, who talked the whole way there (which is a long way, I promise you). Will and I, unlike Christina and Al, managed to fall asleep on the train again, oblivious to their constant chatter.

And as the train chugged along, and I drifted off to sleep, I managed to feel proud of myself and what I'd done, for the first time since I'd gotten to Dauntless.


End file.
